Title

Author

Date of Award

Degree Type

Embargo Date

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Business Administration

Advisor(s)

Kris Byron

Keywords

Organizational behavior, Feedback, IPT

Subject Categories

Organizational Behavior and Theory

Abstract

Individuals vary in their mindsets - their implicit beliefs regarding the malleability of human attributes. Because mindset influences individuals' self-regulating activities, it is likely that employees' mindset will influence how they respond to feedback. In this study, I examine how employee mindset interacts with characteristics of the feedback (i.e., feedback valance and whether the feedback is relative or absolute) to influence their perception of the feedback, and in turn, their responses to. The findings of this study suggests that those who believe human attributes can change through effort find negative feedback more valuable and less threatening to their self-concept, which results in them spending more time on and having a greater understanding of the feedback area. In contrast, those who believe attributes are fixed find themselves in a position of motivational conflict as they perceive relative feedback as the most valuable and also the most threatening to their self-concept. This leads to them spending less time on and having poorer understanding of the feedback area.